February 16, 2012

But can she actually sing?

Memories... Lost in the corners of my mind. Misty-watered colored memories... of what I was supposed to do. Scattered lists... of the tasks I needed to get done...

Do you ever wish you could sort of back-up and replay your day the way you can go back on Tivo and see what you missed? Or forgot?

Here's what I remember: Today is the day that Pat is posting about my tips for organization on The Learning Center.

Hi Pat!

It's a really short post because I'm not organized. Actually, I don't know if it is a short post because I don't remember what I sent Pat...

Sidebar: You can say it... it's probably not a short post because "short post" and "Carrie" are not two things one generally finds in the same blog post.

Now where was I... I remember sending pictures of some of my things for storing all that stuff we quilters seem to accumulate. I've got boxes, bins, baskets and drawers... but I don't remember the specifics. When Pat e-mailed be about this, she asked me for my "top Studio organization idea or tip"... (as in a special way to store fabric or thread, or a cool item I use to keep my workroom tidy... etc.) And I was to include a photo. I responded with a dozen questions and in short order, her single question resulted in my sending her a couple of e-mails with a half-dozen or so photos. It's my nature to be thorough. Just in case.

But wouldn't you know it, after seeing all the really terrific tips and pictures that The Happy Zombie (Monica), Olive and Ollie (Heather), The Bumble Bean (Victoria), the Bunny-on-the-Hill (Anne), and One Piece at a Time (Erin) shared... uh oh. Is this what Pat wanted? Maybe I misunderstood her question ~ she said "studio", I thought "workroom". What did I send her? So I e-mailed Pat in a panic to see if there was anything else she needed, wanted... whatever. She said she had enough... she was probably afraid I would send her more "nada".

So after seeing what I sent, if you have questions, be sure to ask. And I will include a few more pictures of what I've done as soon as I see (remember) what I sent Pat.

One of the things I can show you now is in response to a couple of questions I've gotten, and a few of the comments left on the earlier post. What to do about the huge pile of quilt magazines we all accumulate? I admit it, I saved them religiously. I had American Patchwork going back almost fifteen years and probably another 70 assorted issues of other magazines. But not anymore. I cleared them out! Mostly. When I was in the process of re-doing my workroom, I went through all the magazines I had and tore out the pictures, pages, articles and projects I wanted to save. As hard as it was to do, it was very nice to turn an almost 48" stack of magazines into about 2" of porfolios.

Portfolio? That's how I save all the "stuff" I want to keep, in an Itoya Portfolio. They come in all sorts of sizes of pages and number of pages -- I prefer the 8 1/2" x 11" pages in the 48 page/96 view size. That means that there are 48 actual pages or sleeves, but since each page can be viewed from either side, I can use a single portfolio to save 96 different things. Yes, they are just like binder sheets.

I put all the pages relating to each article, pattern or project together on one side of the page. Some have just a single page with a photo ~ like the Yoko Saito quilt in the top picture ~ and others have all the pages/templates for the project ~ like the Etta's Santa by Sandy Gervais. (Both were from Quiltmania.) This makes it easy to see what I've got... as in, find what I'm looking for. And each portolio can be labeled to make it easy to find the right one! What? I had over 100 magazines, there wasn't any way to fit them into only 96 slots!

The Itoya portfolios are very sturdy and they last for years. I've been using them for one thing or another for more than 20 years, and I still have a few of the early portfolios. The Itoya portolios are available on Amazon, at many FedEx Kinkos stores, at a great many art stores, and at many office supply stores.

One caveat though.. that grey and white paper label that comes with the portfolio is a little blah. That's easily fixed with a little bit of scrapbook paper.

So that will have to do for now.

What else? Sewing? I've gotten to do some of that -- Blueberry Crumb Cake is still a "work in progress"... mostly because I've been easily distracted lately and have felt like working on other things. I've made two new little quilts using Urban Cowgirl and Hello Luscious... though not together. I love those collections.

So pretty. That's Urban Cowgirl.

A funny thing about this collection... it's always interesting to see how other people interpret and "see" the fabric. Sister Nicole put it together with the red, black and pink prints from Farmer's Market and it looked terrific. But when I saw the fabric, my first thought was that the colors had a beautiful faded, almost sunwashed, kind of look so I saw the fabrics in something lighter and "looser".

Today I'm going to start a new quilt... though I don't know which one.

That isn't the result of a memory issue... it's a mood thing.

And no, Glenn Miller doesn't have to worry. I'm done. :)

P.S. The answer is no. I can't sing a note. I mean, I can actually sing... just not very well. Not. Well. At. All.

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I'm loving the Urban Cowgirl also - afterall I'm a "cowgirl wanna-be" and westerns run rampid in our house!!! Miss itty, saloon girl no, but I used to be a decent Annie Oakley!!
Can't write too much, I'm off to organize my studio or workroom.... I call it the nest. I went thru TONS of magazines a few years back and they are over powering me again, just when I think I have them under control - a few years roll by. How does that happen?

Chances are, you're too hard on yourself. If Rosie doesn't cover her ears with her paws when you belt out showtunes, then you're good to go. :) If memory serves me correctly, which it often doesn not, singing actually improves memory. Didn't we all learn our ABC's by singing them and our daughter learned the months of the year by doing the Macarena. Do keep in making a joyful noise!

I'm excited about that Urban Cowgirl line too. I was raised in town and now we ranch for a living and I avoid town at all costs.
Looks like a great line!

Oh I loved your post with Pat. I was debating on the baskets et al from the Container store and you sold me! And the simple idea of tags on all my pretty boxes...well that was kind of a"duh" moment for me ! And the to do list for my iPhone...oh my gosh thanks carrie and Rosie!